From 1968 to 1972, Palestine studied vocal interpretation with
Pandit Pran Nath,[4] experimented on kinetic light sculptures with
Len Lye, composed music for
Tony and
Beverly Conrad’s film Coming Attractions, taught at
CalArts with
Morton Subotnick,[4] created the sound and movement piece Illuminations with
Simone Forti, and developed his own alternative
synthesizer: the Spectral Continuum Drone Machine.
Throughout the seventies Palestine created records, videos, sculptural objects, abstract expressionist visual scores, and performed long piano concerts regularly in his loft on
North Moore Street[5] in Tribeca in the company of his bevy of stuffed animals.[6] From 1980 to 1995, Palestine performed only rarely, exhibiting instead at
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the
Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and in
documenta 8. During that time, he also founded the Ethnology Cinema Project in New York, which is dedicated to preserving films that document disappearing traditional cultures.
After moving to Europe in 1995, in addition to creating exhibitions, Palestine performed regularly, re-releasing older material and developing new videos and sonic projects.[7]
Charlemagne Palestine, who has long incorporated bears and plush toys into his performances, created the art installation Bear Mitzvah in Meshugahland[10] at
The Jewish Museum in New York City in 2017.
^Pontegnie, Annie (1 September 2002).
"Charlemagne Palestine". Artforum International. Archived from
the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
^[1]Fifteen Questions Interview with Charlemagne Palestine in The Bare Maximum
^
abcGray, Louise (1 September 2002). "Invisible Jukebox: Charlemagne Palestine". The Wire (223): 21–23.
^[3]Piano Maximalism: Charlemagne Palestine’s Strumming Music By Danny Riley, 01 October 2017
^Guzman, Antonio (April 1, 2004). Sacred Bordello: Charlemagne Palestine. London: Black Dog Publishing.
ISBN978-1901033793.
^Ira Schneider, Beryl Korot -Video art: an anthology 1976 - - Page 249 "Palestine, in an early tape entitled Body Music, produced a fixed-camera recording of his performance piece, during which he developed a progression of body sounds while moving in an ever-expanding spiral toward the edges of the gallery ..."
^Marley, Brian (1 June 2003). "Charlemagne Palestine: In Mid-Air". The Wire (232): 67–68.
Johnson, Tom (1989). The Voice of New Music: New York City 1972–1982: A Collection of Articles Originally Published by the
Village Voice. Eindhoven, Netherlands:
Het Apollohuis.
ISBN90-71638-09-X.
Palestine, Charlemagne (2004). Sacred Bordello. Book with CD. Milan: Alga Marghen.
Voegelin, Salome. Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. London: Continuum. 2010. Chapter 2 Noise, pp. 50–52.